UCAN TNR POLICIES

Rules for Trap/Neuter/Return

Community/Feral Cat

A community or feral cat is a cat that has been born in the wild or has reverted to the wild, and is not tame or socialized to people. These include semi-feral cats—cats that can be handled by you but not strangers.

Stray Cat

Stay cats were once pets and are socialized to people. A friendly stray that can be handled by you and strangers should have an appointment and be brought in a carrier, not a trap.

Please follow each of these rules, as they enable us to best care for cats and keep our staff safe.

Feral and semi-feral cats MUST be brought in a steel or metal Havahart or humane trap. We DO NOT accept feral cats in carriers, cages, boxes, etc.

Feral cats are accepted between 8:30 a.m. and 11:00 a.m. Monday thru Thursday (not on Fridays). Due to a demanding daily surgery schedule, there will be NO exceptions. Please bring a trapped cat in as early as possible within that time frame to allow us to efficiently work it onto our busy surgery schedule. If too many feral cats are brought in on any day, we may need to hold the cat(s) over until the next day for surgery.

Only one cat per trap. If you accidentally catch 2 cats in one trap, you will be required to rent one trap at the time of check-in so we can place each cat in its own trap for recovery and release. Our trap rental fee is $50 cash and is refundable when the trap is returned.

Kittens must be 8 weeks old and weigh at least 2 pounds.

Only two feral cats per person per day unless you call first and get approval for more.

All feral cats will be ear-tipped—no exceptions.

If the cat is trapped in the morning, please remove the food used to trap the cat immediately after the cat is caught (if possible without putting yourself at risk of being bitten).

All feral cats of an appropriate age will be given a rabies vaccination.

At no additional charge, all feral cats will receive a Penicillin injection and may be given subcutaneous fluids at the time of surgery to help in their recovery.

We recommend providing cat shelters for outdoor cats when it is below 40 degrees. While we shave as little as possible, the cat will still have a shaved area and needs a warm place to recover.

Pick-up time is 7:30 a.m. the morning following surgery unless you are bringing in more feral cats that day. If so, pick-up is at 9:00 a.m. the morning following surgery.

If you choose to have your feral cat tested for Felv/FIV and it tests positive, we will still perform spay or neuter surgery. There is no option to not have the surgery performed. UCAN will not euthanize a cat solely because of a positive test result.

Trap Rental: We rent traps for a $50 CASH deposit which is refundable when the trap is returned in good working order.

If you have any questions regarding these regulations, please call before bringing in a cat.

PLEASE do not leave traps unattended or out overnight. People may hurt the cats, steal the traps or the cats could overheat in the hot weather or freeze in the cold weather. To learn more about feral cats and proper trap-neuter-return procedures, visit the Alley Cat Allies website at alleycat.org

UCAN reserves the right to refuse to perform surgery on any cat that is determined by our veterinarians to be unfit for surgery or any cat brought in without compliance with these rules.